Somnambulism
by WeBuiltThePyramids
Summary: Paige rushed to his side. "Walter, Walter," she said, placing a hand on his back and pressing the first two fingers on her other hand against his neck. Nothing. "Oh, my God!"


**I had a couple vague ideas floating around in my head for a couple of weeks, and last night I figured out a way to just put all of them together into one fic. I have a feeling this two week hiatus is going to feel very, very long.**

* * *

Paige didn't mind getting up at four in the morning under certain circumstances. Meeting her boyfriend for what Toby would call _some early bird lovin'_ was one of those circumstances, and today was the day the carpool would come directly to the condo, so Ralph could stay home until it was time to go to school.

Sometimes it was difficult, logistics wise, to organize her meetings with Walter. They'd agreed to no sleepovers unless Ralph was spending the night else ware, and so far Cabe had been pretty good at spending a couple nights a month at the Dineen condo so Paige could stay at the garage. But Paige and Walter both knew it wasn't the jobs of their friends to facilitate them getting to spend an entire night together.

So, they did things this way. They went on dates during the day when there was no case, or on weekends and brought Ralph along, and they saved physical intimacy for early mornings and while the others left for lunch. They preferred the mornings, though. They had more time.

Paige eased the car into her regular spot and grabbed her purse, rummaging through for her perfume. _Damn_. She'd left it at home. _Oh well_. Walter would be awake and waiting for her, and she knew from experience that he found her enticing enough without it.

But they'd been under a lot of stress lately, with a heavy case load as well as hearings regarding damages done while on an off the record mission for the Department of Defense. Walter hadn't been sleeping well, and she liked doing a little something extra – even something small like putting on perfume – when they met in the mornings. He always commented when she did so – she didn't know if he honestly liked it or if he was just recognizing that she'd done something extra, but either way, it made her feel good.

She quietly eased open the door – something she always did at this hour, even though she wasn't going to wake anybody up. Closing it securely behind her, she turned. Walter wasn't down by the desks, but oftentimes he'd appear at the top of the stairs within moments of her entering the garage, having seen the lights from her car. Paige dropped her jacket and purse on her desk and turned toward the stairs. "Oh, my God!"

Walter lay on his stomach at the bottom, head turned to the side, and his feet still resting on the third step up. His arms weren't in a defensive position, as if he hadn't even tried to break his own fall. There was drool coming from his mouth that had collected in a small pool on the hard floor.

Paige rushed to his side. "Walter, Walter," she said, placing a hand on his back and pressing the first two fingers on her other hand against his neck. Nothing. "Oh my God," she said, her voice breaking, the hand on his back shaking him side to side. "Walter, please," she begged, lifting the hand from his neck to cover her mouth. Shaking, she placed her fingers back on his neck in a different spot, hoping she'd simply put them in the wrong place. "Oh, thank God," she gasped, in relief, when this time she felt his pulse.

Should she try to wake him up? Every instinct she had wanted to roll him over, shake him until he opened his eyes. But was that safe? Should she call Toby – or an ambulance – and let them take care of it?

Instinct won over, and she ran a hand through his hair, the hand on her back still trying to shake him awake. "Walter, wake up," she said, dropping her voice, trying to sound gentle but authoritative. "Walter..."

His face contorted slightly, and she heard a grunt. "Walter," she said again, feeling another rush of relief as he opened his eyes and focused on her. He frowned. "Paige."

"Walter, what..." she didn't even know what her first question ought to be. "What happened? Did someone do something to you? Is anyone else here?" She felt a chill down her spine at the thought that maybe someone was coming up behind her, to knock her out and finish Walter off. She looked over her shoulder, feeling her heart start to race again, her eyes widening when she saw a broken coffee cup about twenty feet away. She looked back down as she heard Walter groan, and he shifted onto his back, trying to sit up. "Hey, hey, hey," she said, reaching out, helping him into a sitting position. "Walter." She ran her hand through his hair again. "Hey, what happened?"

He shook his head. "I...I don't..."

"Walter, what's my name?" She asked, realizing as soon as she posed the question that he'd already identified her.

"Paige, I'm...I'm fine..." Walter attempted to get to his feet, and Paige leaned over, keeping him sitting. She didn't want him getting up and falling again, not until she had some sort of idea of what had caused it the first time. "I don't..."

"You don't know what happened?"

He shook his head, still staring straight ahead at the stairs. "No."

"I'm going to get ice for your head," she said, although she didn't feel any bumps. "And I'm going to call Toby. Promise me you won't try to get up."

"Paige." He shifted his weight. She realized he was probably uncomfortable, especially if he'd spent some time laying like that. She blew out a long breath. "Okay, let me help you up and we'll sit you on the couch first, okay? But you have to promise that you'll tell me if something hurts."

Walter nodded, and Paige rose, reaching out. Their hands closed around each other's wrists and he struggled to his feet. Once he was steady, Paige ran her hands over his shoulders, down his arms, and back up his chest, telling herself she was checking him for injury. In reality, she just wanted to touch him, reassure herself that he was still here in front of her. She let out a shaky breath.

"Hey." Walter rested his hands just above her hips. "I'm okay."

"Something's wrong with you," she said, her voice sounding strained as she tried to blink back fresh tears. "You don't just _fall_ , Walter." She put a hand to her mouth. "I couldn't find your pulse at first and now we still don't know what happened..." She felt terrible. _He_ was the one who had seemingly tumbled down the stairs for no clear reason. She should be comforting him.

But he slid his hands up into her hair, tipped her head down so he could kiss her forehead, then pulled her into his arms. She clung to him, afraid he was going to topple over. "Please let's go to the couch," she said. _I won't feel better until you're where you can't fall._

She held his hand all the way across the room, and let out another sigh of relief when he was settled onto it. "Don't move. Promise?"

He nodded.

Paige rushed into the kitchen area, her phone tucked between her head and her shoulder. "Toby?"

"Paige, it's..." there was a pause. "It's not even five in the morning."

"I know, I'm sorry, I...Walter fell down the stairs."

"What?" Toby suddenly sounded more awake. "At the garage? Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he's awake, he...he doesn't have a clue what happened, or how long he was laying there...honestly I don't even know if...if someone might have..."

"Paige, is anyone else in the garage?"

"I don't know."

"Did you call the police?"

"No." Paige looked around. "Nothing's been...it doesn't look like anything's been taken, and there's no broken windows or..."

"Is he coherent?"

"Yes. I helped him stand up and he walked to the couch more or less on his own."

"He's probably not in any immediate danger. Let me shower and get dressed and I'll drive over and take a look at him. I'll be there in a little under an hour."

"Thank you," she said. "Thank you so much."

"If he starts getting dizzy or you can't keep him awake, then – "

"Call an ambulance," she said. "I know. I will."

* * *

"Paige, I think I may have just solved the mystery of Walter's fall."

Paige quickened her pace as she completed her descent of the stairs. After Toby had checked him out and found nothing immediately alarming, the two of them had supervised Walter climbing the stairs and gotten him into bed with a tea that would help him rest by relaxing his muscles. When the others had shown up, Cabe began checking every potential entry point in the garage for signs of a break in, and Sylvester had started reviewing the security camera footage that Happy and Ralph had installed – but only after both Happy and Paige had assured him that neither of them had been involved in anything in the past twenty four hours that might scar him for life.

"What did you find?" She asked as she approached him. Toby walked up on Sylvester's other side and bent to see the screen.

Sylvester pointed to the monitor. Walter was wandering around the ground floor, holding something in his hand. His pace seemed non – chalant, and he wandered around the desks, turning just enough to reveal a coffee mug in his hand. "That's the broken one," Paige said.

"Yep," Sylvester responded, "and you're about to see how it got that way."

Walter walked a few more steps, his posture almost playful, then turned, his arm falling to his side. After a moment, his fingers released the coffee mug, and it fell to the ground. Seemingly unaware, Walter walked forward, heading for the stairs. He ascended them part way – just out of sight of the camera, then appeared again, heading back down. Just four or five steps from the bottom, his foot appeared to turn sideways, accidentally catching the other one, and Paige winced and flinched as Walter fell forward and landed in the position where she'd found him. Looking at the time stamp, she had found him an hour later, almost to the minute. "My God."

"I think you're right, Sylvester," Toby said. "Assuming you think our friend here is sleepwalking. Somnambulism is the medical term."

"Sleepwalking?"

"Yeah," Toby said, "it's this thing where..."

"I know what sleepwalking is," Paige said, rolling her eyes. "I just...I didn't know Walter was a sleepwalker."

"I don't think he is," Toby said, "at least, it probably doesn't happen regularly. The nights I spent here with him and Happy, he never did. And you've spent some nights here too. This could have been his first time."

"But what made him do it?"

"Sleepwalking can happen if someone's sleep schedule is off, if they have a history of it in their family – even if they're an identical twin," Toby said. "Identical twins have a higher rate of sleepwalking than people who aren't. But in this case, Walter's insomnia and stress levels are probably what caused this sleepwalking event."

"It's definitely not family history," Sylvester said. "When Megan was losing her ability to walk, they asked her if her family had any history of sleepwalking to see if she might accidentally hurt herself trying to get up. She said no."

"So he's likely to do it again," Paige thought aloud. "If it was because he hasn't been sleeping well or stress. We've all been dealing with that the past few weeks."

"Possibly."

* * *

"Sleepwalking, huh?" Walter shook his head. "I suppose that would explain why I don't remember."

"And you were taking some antihistamines when you and Sly and Cabe went to San Diego the other day," Toby said. "Drugs like those, or stimulants, or sleeping pills can cause sleepwalking as well."

"Sleeping pills cause sleepwalking," Paige said. "It's like those anti – depressants that say a side effect is thoughts of suicide. It all seems a little counter – productive."

"Medication can do wonders for a person," Toby said. "Occasionally though, it just doesn't work for a person. I can't even say for sure that the antihistamines contributed to this, but the stress and lack of sleep almost certainly did."

"Okay," Paige said, putting a hand on Walter's shoulder. "You're coming home with me tonight. I need to keep an eye on you."

"Cabe can't watch Ralph," Walter reminded her. "He's got to go to Sacramento."

"I don't care," Paige said. It wasn't like Ralph didn't know they were dating, and it wasn't like their rule about only having sex when her son wasn't in the same building was because they didn't want him to get too attached to their relationship – if it was, they'd be failing miserably, for Paige had never seen the boy as happy as he'd been in the past four months. Paige and Walter had both just thought it might be too weird, knowing Ralph was just down the hall.

But if they wanted the relationship to continue, the three of them would have to start sleeping in the same home eventually; this could be a nice, brief experiment as to how the three of them would do sharing the same intimate space. And it wasn't like she and Walter were going to be sleeping together tonight anyway, they were just going to...Paige smirked. The phrase "sleep together" was inconveniently vague.

"People who sleepwalk in an unfamiliar environment are at a higher risk of injury," Toby cautioned. "He doesn't know your condo like he knows the garage."

"There aren't stairs inside of my condo," Paige said. "I'm raising a kid in there. And I'll be able to keep an eye on him this way, without making anyone watch Ralph. It's not like he's never been there."

"Paige..."

"Don't argue with me," she said. "You scared me this morning. A lot. I need you to be with me at least until we get this sleeping back on track." She slid a hand over his chest. "Walter, if you'd fallen from higher up..."

"I'm sorry," he said, tipping his head toward her. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I know," she answered. "I know. But...but you did. And it would make me feel a lot better if you came home with me."

He looked at her another moment, then nodded. "Okay."

She smiled and leaned down to kiss his forehead. "Good."

* * *

"Can I tell you a secret?"

Paige had been coming down the hallway, but stopped just a pace shy of the living room. She pivoted, backing herself against the wall to make completely sure that she wasn't visible.

"What is it, bud?" She heard Walter ask.

There was a short silence, then Ralph spoke again. "I'm glad you're okay, but...I like that my mom wanted to keep an eye on you."

"Your mom is an incredibly loving woman," Walter responded.

"I know. That's not what I mean. I mean I like that you're here. It feels nice. It's like when we all hang out on the weekends."

"I like that too, Ralph. Very much."

Paige's hand slowly came to rest on her heart as she heard Walter's agreement. Backing up a few steps, she coughed to alert them to her presence and walked forward, back into the living area. "So, who is winning?"

"Game just finished," Walter said. "I don't think I will ever beat him."

"Nope, you won't!" Ralph said triumphantly. His legs were tucked up underneath him, his knees against Walter's leg. The older genius reached over and ruffled his hair.

Paige hated to break all this up, but it was already past Ralph's bedtime, and they wouldn't be getting this little experiment off on the right foot if Walter staying immediately affected the boy's ability to get enough sleep. "Ralph, it's a school night."

"I know." Ralph looked like he wanted to protest, but he hugged Walter, then got up and hugged her. Paige wondered if he was on his best behavior because he wanted Walter to stay over more. He was a genius, he could figure out that this was a significant first for their relationship.

After Ralph brushed his teeth, Paige went into his room. He might be technically a teenager now, but as long as he wasn't protesting her tucking him in, she was still going to do it. "Good night, baby," she said, brushing his hair back.

"Night, Mom. Night, Walter."

Paige hadn't even realized Walter had walked up next to her. "Good night, Ralph," Walter said with a smile.

"If you sleep walk tonight," Ralph said, "Remember that there's a tiny step going into the kitchen."

"I'll try to keep that in mind."

"If he sleep walks tonight," Paige said, "I will be stopping him before he reaches the kitchen."

"Trying to, anyway," Ralph said. "It can be very difficult to safely bring someone out of a sleepwalking episode."

Paige gave a slightly frustrated sigh.

"I'm sorry. I know you know that. I'm just..."

"Stating facts." Paige managed a smile. "I know. Sleep well, okay? I love you."

"I love you too."

"I'm sorry," Walter said after they left Ralph's room. "I should have asked if it was appropriate I come say goodnight to him in there."

"Don't apologize," Paige said, turning to face him. "You know how much he loves you." She slid her arms around his neck and smiled.

"Well, I love him, too," Walter said. "And you." Smiling, he leaned in and kissed her. Paige slid a hand up into his hair, pressing her lips harder against his.

"Are you ready for bed yourself?" She asked after a minute.

"It has been a very long day."

"Come on." Paige kissed him again, gesturing toward the bedroom. She went back into the living room, double checking that the door was locked, the curtains drawn, and there was nothing unfamiliar on the floor. _It's like I'm baby – proofing all over again._

That thought instantly quelled any frustration her body might have been having over her and Walter not having physical relations that day. She most definitely was _not_ looking to get pregnant any time soon.

Satisfied that there was nothing that might harm a sleepwalking Walter, Paige headed for her room. Walter was already in bed, adjusting the pillow on his side. "Comfy?" She asked, gently pushing the door closed and bending to put a piece of scotch tape at the bottom.

"Yes. This is a quality mattress."

"Anything is quality next to that crap you have in the loft," she said teasingly. She flipped off the light and crossed the room, crawling in next to him. "Do you feel tired, at all? Do you think you'll be able to sleep?"

"Well," Walter said after a moment, "I do, uh...I don't feel stressed."

"Good!" She rolled onto her side, stroking his arm. "Playing video games with Ralph is always a good distraction for you."

"Yeah. But, um..." he rolled onto his side, even though they couldn't see each other well in the dark. "You help with that too, you know."

Their faces were so close together she could lightly feel his breath. "I'm glad," she said, caressing his shoulder. "I'm glad you feel so safe. I just hope that the stress is what's causing this. Because then we can fix it."

"Mmm hmm."

"You're exhausted," she whispered. "Try to sleep. I'll be right here, all night."

* * *

Paige was pleased when the thing to wake her up was her alarm.

She rolled over to check on Walter, and found him exactly how he'd been laying when she woke up three hours ago to check on him. On his stomach, his arms wrapped around the extra pillow. Now that the natural light gave her a look at him, Paige could see the completely relaxed expression on his face. He was comfortable. This was likely the best night's sleep he'd had in a long time.

"Hey," she whispered. "It's morning."

He didn't respond. She smiled. Carefully easing out of bed, she dropped to her knees in front of the door. The tape was still in place, and hadn't been removed and replaced. She hadn't slept through anything. He hadn't been out of the room.

She went back to the bed, kneeling on the mattress and reaching out to affectionately run her hand from his shoulder to his hip.

This felt right. This felt normal.

She crawled back under the covers and scooted close to him. She had another alarm that would go off in a half an hour, and she would still have breakfast started before Ralph got up.

A "hmmm" sound came from Walter as she cuddled close, and his eyes half opened. "Hey."

"Hey," she said. "You sleep well?"

"Mmm hmm," he said. "Very comfortable."

She lifted her head, kissing his hand as it still held the pillow. "Good. Achy at all?"

"Probably will be, once I move." His eyes closed again.

"But you're not gonna move," she said with a smirk.

"Not quite yet."

"Kay." She wiggled closer. "Then I'll stay right here with you."

* * *

 **THE END**


End file.
